SUFFOLK COLEOPTERA: H.
CORRIGENDA
MENDEL
U p to the death in 1951 of Claude Morley, founder and for m a n y years insect recorder for the Suffolk Naturalists' Society, the C o u n t y List of Coleoptera was kept up to date, by the publication of frequent notes relating to the discovery of new species. Very many of these notes referred to specimens collected by, or given to Morley, and this voucher material is to be found in the Morley Insect Collection now housed (with the exception of the Ichneumonidae), and available for study, at Ipswich Museum. V o u c h e r specimens are particulary important as they provide a Standard against which published records can be tested. Examination of Morley's Coleoptera, has enabled the a u t h o r to correct the following records which have appeared in these Transactions. 1) Agabus
biguttatus
(Olivier)
B u r t o n (1941) reported the collection of two species of water beetle from Suffolk; one new to the County. Morley, as H o n o r a r y Editor, attached to this report a note of his own referring to the capture of A. biguttatus, new to Suffolk, from Framlingham in September 1941. The specimen corresponding to this note, labelled '13.ix.41 stones and mud of a ditch b o t t o m Apsey, Framl.' is present in the Morley Collection a n d , suspecting that it was not biguttatus, I sent it to Dr. G . N. F o s t e r who has identified it as *Agabus guttatus (Paykull). T h e r e do not appear to be any other records of either Agabus biguttatus or guttatus for Suffolk, and so the former species must now be removed from the County List, and the latter added. 2) Arhopalus
tristis (Fabricius)
In the Proceedings of this Society for the year 1949 (7:xvi-xvii), it is reported that Morley exhibited specimens of the longhorn beetle Arhopalus tristis, under the synonymous n a m e Criocephalus polonicus Motschulsky, at a meeting held on the Ist O c t o b e r . These had been taken late in June that year at Fritton Warren, and were said to represent a species new to Suffolk. N e w to Suffolk — for index
S U F F O L K COLEOPTERA: CORRIGENDA
389
Burton (1949), describing a series of entomological excursions to Fritton Warren between the 25th June and the 1 Ith July, 1949, mentions the discovery of 'a fĂźll dozen fine Longhorns', which were later identified by K. G. Blair as Criocephalus rusticus (L.), a species also new to Suffolk. Morley is known to have collected with Burton at the Warren on the 25th June 1949, and suspecting that both accounts referred to a single species, the author turned to the Morley Collection for confirmation. Ten specimens labelled Fritton Warren, and with a reference to the 1949 Transactions, were found to be present. These were, without exception, specimens of Arhopalus (= Criocephalus) rusticus and not tristis. In describing his 'polonicus' as new to Suffolk, Morley had overlooked, or chosen to disregard, an earlier record. Elliott (1930) added polonicus to the Suffolk List on the strength of several specimens found in their burrows in pine trees, at both Southwold and Walberswick. These were discovered by H. F. Fryer in July 1924, and reported to Elliot as rusticus. It seems that Elliott wrongly 'corrected' Fryer's identification without seeing the specimens, probably in the belief that the true rusticus was a northern species, restricted in the wild to Scotland, an impression given by Fowler and Donisthorpe (1913), and possibly true at that time. It appears that both the aforementioned records of A. tristis are erroneous. The only genuine record to this day relates to a single specimen taken by Mr. C. S. Barham on the 6th October 1959, near the centre of Ipswich. Everything points to this insect being a chance importation. O n the other hand A. rusticus seems to be well established in the County, no doubt due to Forestry Commission plantings. Mr. C. S. Barham informs me that he has collected single examples of the species both at Friday Street, on the 2nd August 1969, and Chillesford, on the 31st July 1971, as well as rearing a specimen from larvae found at Herringswell, in the West of the County, on the 24th April 1975. Mr. D. R. Nash has also reared the species, from pine wood from Hollesley H e a t h ; imagines emerging in June and July respectively, 1972.
Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. G. N. Foster for determining Morley's specimen of A. guttatus, and Mr. C. S. Barham and
390 Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 17, Part 4 Mr. D. R. Nash for allowing me to include their records of A. tristis and rusticus.
References Burton, G. (1941) Two Water-beetles New to Suffolk. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 4, 247. Burton, J. (1949) Insects rediscovered at Fritton Warren. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 7, 6-8. Elliott, A. E. (1930) The Coleoptera of Suffolk, Second Supplement. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 1, 121-6. Fowler, W. W. and Donisthorpe, H. St. J. (1913) The Coleoptera of the British Islands. Supplement. Vol. VL Reeve and Co. * New to Suffolk
H. Mendel, B.Sc., A.M.A. The Museum, Ips